Invasive needles and biopsies characterize the modern-day reality of blood collection to determine the likelihood of the onset of diseases and bodily health. While necessary for health data, this method is not only time-consuming, but expensive, and for individuals with persistent health problems that require constant monitoring, this can be an arduous and life-long task that they must endure.
Founded in 2014, Qvin, previously known as Qurasense, brings about a revolutionary way of biobanking or sampling blood non-invasively, by exploring natural menstrual blood. Not only does this utilize menstrual blood which was formerly thought to be of little to no medical use, it also empowers women throughout by showing that having menstrual periods can be repositioned to a positive and insightful part of their bodily process. Their goal; to empower women with constant health insights through non-invasive blood analysis. Simply put, no other method can do blood testing 100% non-invasively as Qvin’s approach.
The idea
Founders Sara Naseri and Sǿren Therkelsen, set out to mitigate the dilemma of invasive blood collection with the promising answer of menstrual blood. With 2.2 billion menstruating women, their global addressable market was unmistakingly extensive and had great potential. Women, which was already an underserved and understudied population, were shown to highly desire monthly tracking for data such as STDs, lipids, and fertility.
Conducting the first proteomics study on menstrual blood in 2012, and throughout many other research opportunities, the team was able to find that menstrual blood had over 400 unique biomarkers, and was a valuable health data source that wasn’t taken advantage of. The team was actually the first ever in the world to discover the parallels of biomarkers between menstrual blood and systemic blood. Through many comparative studies of hormones and infectious diseases, biomarkers such as triglycerides, cholesterol HBA1c, FSH, TSH, HR-HPV and more can be monitored using the Q-pad.
The solution
Seamlessly easy to use, the Q-pad is similar to the normal menstrual period pad except that it contains a strip which separates RBCs and plasma into two separate chambers, and a return pouch. With their excellent user interface on their app, Qvin has built an easy to navigate online platform that guides you through how to remove the inner strip and seal it in the return envelope, and securely send it back to Qvin for them to analyze your sample.
The team
Naseri, a serial entrepreneur researcher with research, trial and medical focus, was the Female Entrepreneur of the Year, while Therkelsen, also a serial entrepreneur with product IT and business focus, assisted over 125 danish startups. This partnership serves to have a strong alignment as both partners bring to the table all the necessary skills and passions for Qvin. Their dedication and similar notions on work-culture proves that this partnership is a powerful foundation for startups to come.
In the market of personalized health care and biobanking, its potential in the medical industry is massive, as health care is still working towards personalizing medical care that caters to individuals of different health circumstances. Even for disease studies, the largest pharma companies such as Pfizer, Genentech, Roche etc, have recently engaged in deals worth tens of millions of dollars for samples and data from companies with this easy access to health data, such as 23andme which recently went public. This market is one that our team is excited to indulge in because of the tectonic promising effects it will have on the entire healthcare industry.
We at Linden3 Ventures feel confident about investing in the Naseri and Therkelsen team because of their revolutionary ideas and pioneering determinism throughout their FDA process. In the industry and market of biobanking, serving to become the next wave in personalized medicine, we are profoundly thrilled to be part of the start of a new avenue of medical care.
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